Best Tripod in World

Gitzo makes best tripods there are. Cost very much, but that’s the price of quality. Other brands make good tripods to, like Manfrotto Pro 3021, but not as good.  I had one of that kind, but its heavy and I don’t want to go very far with it.  If you have a DSLR ( ) especially if you have good lens, need a tripod to put it on.  For best IQ.  IQ means Image Quality.

A Canon EOS 500 mm L On Right

Sometimes you need big lens for wildlife.  Like 500 mm f=4.0 L IS USM.  That’s too heavy to hold with hands.  You have to cary it first to get to the animals, then you can’t just hold it there for hours until you get a good shot.  Tripod keeps you from having back ache.

Even if you just have little lens like Canon 16 to 35 mm zoom f=2.8 L mk II you still need tripod.  Don’t think so?  Wide angle hides shake, right?    Have to stop down for landscape photography!  Need a big focus ( that’s called depth of field ) so the background is sharp.  Otherwise it’s wrong.

Canon 1Ds family is heavy SLR camera body.  And L series lenses weigh a lot too.  So I need tripod that doesn’t make it worse.  That means I have to have carbon fiber.  But I also want best IQ, and that also means carbon fiber.  It stops legs from vibrating.  And it’s good in cold, too.  Doesn’t hurt on your hands at all.  Metal is bad if you don’t have gloves.

Best tripod is Gitzo GT-2530 LVL.  I got it at B&H.  I love B&H.  They have best deals and really good service.  Still trying to figure out best ball head to go with it.

Photographer Needs GPS

 GPS is global position system.  You probably already know that, but not everybody.  It’s a satelite flying in the sky - don’t get the cellular phone tower kind.  Apple I-Phone isn’t real GPS.  Only works when you have a signal.  That’s no good when your hiking in mountians.

But why do photographers need GPS, I think you asking.  Well it’s a very good thing to know where your pictures are taken.  Helps you stay organized.  Well, yes, you can do without GPS, but it’s much harder, more work, less accurate.

Don’t need GPS for Lombard Street:

That’s easy!  Just go to map and look up coordinates.  We know where city is, and if you on vacation, look at street signs.

But not Grand Canyon:

 

That’s a big place!  Do you remember exactly where you were when you took this picture?  Pretty close?  You can find pretty close on a map.  We like accurate data.  Why have all those megapixels if pretty close is good enough?

Northern Lights Means Aurora Borealis

White people like ancient Greeks and Romans.  Aurora was the Italian god of the morning and Boreas meant the wind.  It’s a cool name, and I like learning more about this kind of history.  Did you know that Ben Franklin made people know about it.  Northern Lights is a better name.

Here are some pictures I didn’t take.

That’s from a airplane:

This one is Alaska:

Isn’t that cool!

Now let’s look at some NASA pictures.

This one is from Australia:

They could have used a Canon IS lens for this one, like the 100-400 L:

Now this one is wild but I think it’s in Photoshop!

And then I think these are like nature’s fireworks.

Fireworks and July Fourth

Fireworks were invented in China.  In ancient times.  Matter of fact, we even invented gun-powder, to, and we used it to make fireworks with.  To us, war was never a way of using this - our ancestors would make a celebration, and that when they think about it.  Other times, focus on life, but sometimes, they would have magic in the sky.

Today, most of the world does same thing.  My family from California, and we love fireworks here!

From England:

Before they had cameras!  Or even digital photography!

This is in modern times:

 

This is Taipei.  Won’t talk about that because this is photography blog.

 

This is difficult style of photography!  I’m still learning how to just right.  Every time I go on Flickr, makes me wish I had lots of talent.  I love digital photography.  Use it for snapshots on vacation, and with my family.  So many photos of statues and roses.  All this brings me joy.  And pleasure.  But these people have talent!  My RSS found me Seattle fireworks of July 4.  We had great celebration in San Francisco to!

Protecting Environment Is Good

In my country, sky so dark with pollution you can’t see the sun!  It’s a terrible thing.  I like in America, but my family from China, so we go back and visit.  California is best place on earth, protecting its environment.  But whole world needs this.

Here is a man called Pixel Head Online.  He is hero, showing people why protecting the environment is important:

1. http://pixelheadonline.com/blog/index.php/2008/06/16/environment-links-and-news-for-june-2008/
2. http://pixelheadonline.com/blog/index.php/2008/05/28/make-june-8th-world-ocean-day/
3. http://pixelheadonline.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/06/fear-the-plastic-ocean-closetheloop-fences/
4. http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/health-fitness/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we_2.shtml

I love digital photography — need clean air!

This is Shanghai.  :(

San Francisco From Air Plane

Isn’t that just coolest picture?  Golden Gate Park is a big square on the left by the top.  And then Presidio is that triangle point on the top where it connects to the bridge.  See how strong the city gets over on the right edge, at downtown?  Amazing, isn’t it?  And then that’s Treasure Island, like in pirate movie.  It’s connected to Bay Bridge.  That goes to Oakland, where all the gangsters live.

In the middle is Twin Peaks, but it’s not like TV show at all.

I love my city.  It’s the best place to live.

Hey Fast 50 mm People!

Hey party people!!

I think about 50 mm prime lens.  Hear it brings picture taking skill like no other.  Is this true?  Will you recommend one?  Do you like as 85 mm lens?

How many have one?  Do you use it so much?

Is trouble of prime lens worth fastnss?

Should I buy f=1.4 or f=1.8 kind?  Cost much more for f=0.4 f stop.

Sierra Nevada Mountains + Cascades

California has to borders: Pacific Ocean, and Sierra Nevada mountains.  To the north is Oregon, home to northern Sierra with the nickname of Cascades.  Yosemite is our playground, but they have good places to.  I was reading about Talapus Lake in Oregon.  It’s nice up there, but not like here.

This is Bear Creek Spire in Little Lakes Valley.  Its on eastern Sierra Nevada, near state line.  This is US 395 a famous road for people who like pictures.  Ansel Adams took a lot of pictures here.  He used a really old fashioned camera and I don’t mean because it’s film!

 

Its desert here but there’s so much snow Spanish and Mexican people call them “Snowy Mountains” which is what Sierra Nevada means.

This is panarama of US 395 road:

Wow that look so small!  Click the picture for a bigger one.

This is highest mountain in California:

 

Finally here’s Mountain Shasta of the Cascades which also start in California:

 

Yosemite

The nice thing is Yosemite is only 4 hours from San Francisco.  It’s our own playground, and w enjoy it lots.  Everyone in San Francisco goes to Yosemite sometimes, but not very often.  We all love it, though.

Here’s a sepia tones photograph:

That one’s dark and moody.  You can see contrast against the clouds but it’s mostly dark.

This is a really good landscape picture.  Look how sharp the water is!  And that cloud on the big rock.

 

But there’s lots of animals there, and you only see the good picture ones, that could be framed.  Everybody knows about this:

The bear wants food!  He likes candy!  If they ever attack you, you can make him go away by giving the bear chocolate.

Yangtze River

Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) is longest river in China and only after Amazon and Nile in the world. Gifts of the river are plentiful and good for photographers.

Yunnan Province:

 

The Shrines

 

Yangtze River Gorge

 

Nanjing Bridge

 

Ships are being given birth

All the way in Tibet

Last one is from Qingzang Railway, from Qinghai to Tibet.  Railroad is almost 2.000 kilometers!